I got a phone interview to work at Google Project X. Prior to the phone interview, I had really positive thoughts about Google and their special division. After the interview, from talking to the people that worked there, I got the impression that Google Project X is very different from Google proper. Google Project X sounds like a stressful environment with no work life balance. This is scary to me. Maybe it is an occupational hazard of being in the science field, but I am not sure that I would be willing to come to Google X if for all the benefits in the world the environment is stressful.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
*Google asks us not to share the actual interview question so I will only generalize here.*
Questions were related to the specific role and the job description. More difficult questions were still job related. The questions that were asked were theoretical in nature. For instance: if you did not have a specific tool, how would you accomplish the job in question. If you pass the easy questions, they will ask you more complicated ones.
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Google in Oct 2013
Interview
The interview consisted of a series of meetings with 1-3 prospective team members. Each had a series of informally-prepared questions. The entire process took approximately four hours.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
One of the interviewers asked me to calculate the effective data rate on a wireless connection using geosynchronous satellites with a defined packet loss rate.